The present invention relates generally to the field of mobile communication devices such as mobile telephones and palmtop computers, personal digital assistants (PDA's), and the like providing telephony features, and more particularly to a mobile communication device capable of transmitting media content such as streaming audio data downloaded from the Internet, or the like, received via a wireless communication network to a receiver assembly in proximity to the mobile communication device.
Mobile telephones, palmtop computers, personal digital assistants (PDA's), and the like, comprise a class of portable electronic devices whose size enables them to be held in one hand while being operated with the other. Often, such devices are connected to a wireless bearer service capable of providing access to a source of media content such as the Internet, allowing the user of the device to receive media content which may be stored in the device's memory, the memory of a computer system, or transmitted to others via the communication network.
The capability of such devices for reproducing media content, however, is typically limited by their portability. For instance, the selection of speakers which may be included with a mobile telephone is limited by the size of the mobile telephone. These limitations may restrict the reproduction quality of the media content available to the user via the mobile telephone. For example, a typical speaker included with a mobile telephone is generally not suitable for reproducing high fidelity sound required for playback of media containing music. Oftentimes the user of a mobile telephone is located in the proximity of an audio or video reproduction system which is capable of such high fidelity presentation. For example, the user may be in an automobile or like vehicle equipped with an AM/FM radio tuner, satellite radio tuner, or the like. In such instances, it would be advantageous to provide media content received via the mobile telephone to a receiver assembly in proximity to the mobile telephone for reproduction as sound and/or video.